An Unexpected Family
by xxChristiexx
Summary: COMPLETELY AU. When Brooke makes a chance encounter to help out a litte girl in need of a female hand, she hadnt expected she'd end up falling for the girl's father, pending her life to a ready made family. BRUCAS!
1. Chapter One

**A/N: This is my second One Tree Hill story I'm going to attempt to write, this time about Brooke and Lucas. The idea came to me a few days ago and so I thought I'd give myself a chance to write it. This first chapter is a little short but it is only the beginning. The following chapters will be longer. If anything doesn't match like the flight time or something then forgive me. I'm from Australia and I'm unfamilar with the timing in the US. A flight here usually takes about an hour to an hour and a half here. If it bothers you then let me know and I'll fix it. ****I hope you enjoy it and review whether you love it or hate it so I can try and fix any errors that may be needed.**

**Summary: COMPLETELY AU. When Brooke makes a chance encounter to help out a litte girl in need of a female hand, she hadnt expected she'd end up falling for the girl's father, pending her life to a ready made family.**

**An Unexpected Family**

**Chapter One**

The phone rang as Brooke Davis was leaving for the day. Her employee, Millicent was on another line and didn't even glance up.

Brooke's rule was to deal with the customer you had. Her company never put anyone on hold so that the caller felt devalued. People could leave a message, and 'Clothes over Bro's' would get back to them.

When they did, the customer would be treated as if they were the most important human being in the world at that moment which they were.

Brooke had turned her high school creation of designing her own clothes into a reality and now it had become a very profitable business, catering for the average twenty-first person in women, young women, little girls and baby wear. It certainly had become a dream come true for Brooke. Five years ago when she had started up her own website so others could ensue an opportunity to obtain her clothing, she never imagined she would go on to being one of the most talked about young designers.

She had stores opened in every major city around the world as well as providing her label to every major department store worldwide. She had big name Hollywood A-Listers such as Jennifer Aniston, Reese Witherspoon and Katherine Heigl who were a handful of the many celebrities who were always so eager and willing to wear one of Brooke Davis's collection of evening dresses to a Red Carpet event. It was the long awaited publicity she loged to have since she first began making her own clothes and so it was always a pleasure to have the opportunity to style for a famous celebrity.

It was all so surreal and most days, she had to keep telling herself that it wasn't a dream. This was her reality.

Brooke snatched up the phone. "Clothes over Bro's, this is Brooke Davis."

"_Brooke! Thank God."_

Brooke recognised the voice of one of her newest employees, Jane, above the background shrieks.

"What's going on? Brooke asked. From the volume of those screams in the background, murder wasn't out of the question.

"_A kid is flipping out."_

"What kid?" Brooke glanced at Millicent who had hung up her phone. She shrugged at Brooke's silent question.

"_I'm in Tree Hill."_

"Where's that?" Brooke asked. She vaguely knew of the town as small when she had briefly visited there so she could open up a 'Clothes over Bro's' Store but that was it. She had never really had any other desire to return to the place, instead opting to make frequent phone calls to discuss clothing, store prices and such with the manager she had put in charge to run the place. She had felt confident enough to know that the store would be run in an efficient way. Brooke had chosen to fulfil her work requirements in her second home of New York.

"_Near Charlotte in North Carolina," Jane took a deep breath. "I told her that we don't really style for children and that we're not mummies. She didn't take it too well."_

Jane must have held the receiver toward the screaming child because Brooke could distinctly hear, "I need someone to style me. You said I could rent one."

"Who called us?"

"_I thought it was a grandmother or an aunt but it must have been the kid."_

"You can't tell the difference?"

"_The store was frantic. Phones were ringing; people were coming in and out. I got distracted."_

Brooke sighed and shook her head, wondering why she had allowed her many stores to participate in 'Your very own Stylist' idea. It was beginning to turn into a nightmare.

Everyone wanted their own stylist and they weren't happy until they got what they wanted.

"Tell her you need to talk to her mother."

"_I think that is the problem. She doesn't have one. She saw the ad in a magazine and—"_

"Decided to rent one, got it. Well, find her father—"

"_Not me. I'm out of here."_

"What? No, you need to—"

"_I quit," Jane said. "I only took this job to fulfil my money woes while I go to school. I'm not going to be some stylist for a whiny child. I have my own life to worry about, not to mention my college work load. If you want to smooth this over, you come out here and do it yourself."_

"But—" _Click_. "Hell."

Brooke hung up then tore through her e-mail inbox.

"Tree Hill," she muttered, standing at her computer and typing an airline website into the browser. Ever heard of it?"

"Nope," Millicent said.

Brooke clicked on the flight schedule and typed in the necessary details she'd need to book her ticket. Once she had finalised her flight and paid for her ticket, she clicked off the computer.

"Trouble?" Paige asked.

"Jane quit. I'm going to have to fly to Tree Hill and settle things myself."

She grabbed her down coat and purse, and hailed a taxi to take her to JFK Airport so she could catch her flight. The trip took around an hour not that Brooke was focusing on the time anyway. In its place, she opted to take a little nap. She knew it would be the only real sleep she'd get while she was attending to the business she needed to sort out.

The plane jolted to a stop at the airport in Tree Hill, she was abruptly woken up by the jading of the plane touching down on the airways. Stumbling into the foyer of the airport, Brooke found her way to the entrance and hailed another taxi to take her to the girl's home address that Jane had given to her so she could locate her home address and sort out the mess.

She reported the address to the taxi driver and within a few minutes later she was at the house, a freshly painted white board Colonial on a side street with budding maple trees surrounding the front of the house.

"Two-fifteen Maple Street," she murmured.

Back in her hometown of Connecticut, the streets had been similarly named for their most impressive features. Brooke felt a slash of homesickness so deep she ached with it. But she knew that she could never go home again. Brooke did what she always did — she went on.

Strolling up the front path, Brooke noticed the little things. The bushes needed trimming. The windows could use a good wash and heck; they could use some new curtains. Brooke reached out to ring the bell when the front door swung open.

If she hadn't known the child was a girl from Jane's use of pronouns plus and if she didn't understand kids well enough to realise that no little boy wore pink, Brooke might have been stumped. Her long blonde hair was pulled up into a ponytail as she wore a blue baseball cap and her jeans looked miles too big for her and she wore them with a ripped hole strewed on the knee.

Now Brooke realised the mess this little girl had put her into. She didn't know of the circumstances but this little girl really did need help.

But her blue-green eyes were shrewd as she looked Brooke up and down then cocked her head. "So how much will it cost for you to style me?"

* * *

Lucas Scott was on the phone in his office talking to his editor when Heidi, nanny to his four year old daughter Charli came in. He automatically glanced behind her for his daughter, frowning when she wasn't there. One glance at Heidi's face and he said into the phone. "I'll call you back Lindsay," then hung up before she could protest.

"What happened?" He knew that with Charli, anything was possible.

"She's not here?" Heidi asked, her brown hair swaying from side to side.

"She's supposed to be with you."

"She never showed up to my place after day care."

Heidi was his next door neighbour and had volunteered to watch Charli on the odd chance that he was coaching the Ravens, working on his writing or when Nathan and Haley were busy. She had insisted that she'd be good company to him since she never got to see her own grand children as much as she liked so to her, Charli was a substitute and it suited both Lucas and Charli fine considering his own mother was exploring the world with his sister Lily.

But when his child was Charli Scott, it was pretty damn hard to watch over her for a merely few hours. However sweet and adorable Charli looked on most occasions; she also made an art form of driving sitters insane.

She didn't mean to be difficult. She was just a little girl who proved to be far too smart for her own good who was always bursting with a lot of energy. She was also extremely bright and proficient at getting her way. She wheedled and cajoled and once in a while she threw a fit, though usually only with Lucas. When she played, she played hard. So far, she hadn't managed to break herself but Lucas wasn't certain at how long the record would last.

"Did you check the house? Luke asked.

"Should I have?" Heidi frowned. "She was supposed to come to me."

"Where did you look?"

"The playground, the park, Nathan and Haley's house, the route from the school to home."

He debated calling home then decided against it. He'd go home, see if Charli was there and if not, he'd call the police. It wasn't anything he had done before and he hoped he'd never have to do it.

When he got home, he ran up the path and burst in the door. A woman stood in his kitchen, speaking calmly and quietly to Charli.

Tall and slim, she wore a light grey A-Lined business skirt with a blue silk blouse. The skirt ended at her knee revealing a nice set of calves. Her brown hair was styled and hanging loosely around her shoulders with her fringe parted to one side of her face. He glanced at Charli. What the hell?

"Charli," Lucas began, his voice coming out louder and angrier than he meant.

The woman glanced up and he was troubled by the hue of her eyes. Grass-green when he'd expected sky-blue.

Then his daughter turned and her tears were glistening as they ran down her cheeks. It made everything she had already done but her.

"What did you do?" he demanded.

"It wasn't her fault," the woman began.

Lucas lifted his gaze from Charli's to the stranger's. "I wasn't talking to her."


	2. Chapter Two

A/N: Firstly, I have to say thank you to everyone who reviewed or added it to their story alerts. Seriously, I wasn't really expecting so many people to read it so it sure was a surprise when I checked my email and saw the list of reviews and story alerts. I probably would have had this up a few days ago but I wanted to work out the rest of the plot before I wrote anymore to the story plus I know some of you were a little confused by the first chapter but that is just the way it came out when I was writing it and so I spent a little more time on this one to make you understand it maybe a little more and I promise, the next few chapters will get better and explain itself if you find yourself even more confused by the end of this chapter. I hope you try to enjoy it and review because your reviews really do help me write the story better.

Slight warning; Just a heads up that there is a mention of a character death in this chapter and so I do apologise if you like that character but their death did need to take place in order for the plot to succeed the way I've planned it to.

**An Unexpected Family**

**Chapter Two**

"You think I did something?"

Lucas moved farther into the room. "Did you?"

The woman's spine stiffened. The movement caused her blouse to separate as her breasts thrust forward.

He averted his gaze. He had no business watching her breasts. Not only because his daughter was watching his every move he made with those sad, teary eyes but because breasts were off limited. He was still in love with Charli's daughter — his wife. Peyton was—is the love of his life. She had only been gone for six months. It was too early for him to start looking at other women like he had once looked at Peyton. Not to mention that he had to put Charli first. She was his first priority and the fact that every time Lucas looked at Charli, he saw Peyton in her.

He glanced at his daughter and softened. She was an exact replica of her mother besides the curly hair but Lucas knew she had developed her mother's fiery personality. It brought tears to his eyes, just thinking that she would never get to see their little girl grow up.

"I take it you're the father."

"Got it in one," he said. "And you are?" Lucas raised his eyebrows in suspicion. He didn't like that the one thing in his life that he'd do anything for had just taken off, especially when she was only four. He thought Charli knew better than to just walk off without telling anybody. What happened to all those stranger danger rules he and Peyton had talked to her about? Had they just gone in one ear and out the other?

"Brooke Davis." She stepped forward, her high-heeled pumps clicking on the vinyl floor as she offered a perfectly manicured hand. "Clothes over Bro's."

Lucas looked her up and down. Of course she was a fashion designer. He thought she looked somewhat familiar to him. Peyton had worn some of her clothes.

"Why are you here?" he asked, getting straight to the point.

"Your daughter called and hired us. She seems to be under the mistaken impression that we're actually daily stylists."

"That's what Emma's mums' magazine said." Charli wiped away her tears.

She hardly ever cried and of course he couldn't bear it when she did so he always made a joke about there being no crying in basketball. Charli loved basketball. She had been playing it with him since she could bounce a ball.

"Let me get this straight," Lucas said. "You hired a service to style you?"

Charli dug the toe of her shoe into the floor. "Yeah."

Charli refused to look at him. He'd deal with her later.

"You often accept jobs from children?"

"It was a mistake which is why I came," Brooke said in a business like tone.

He fixed Charli with a glare. "Why didn't you go to Heidi's?"

"I didn't wanna. I played with Emma."

Luke resisted the urge to smack himself in the forehead. She didn't wanna. What was he going to do with her?

"You don't like Heidi?"

At first Charli didn't answer then she lifted her head and stared at him defiantly. "I want clothes."

When had this started? It was natural that Charli would miss her mother. She and Peyton would do everything together like go shopping and on the off chance when Peyton was needed in the studio to record music with one of her artists, Charli would always go along with her and help her out. Sure, Luke always had Haley to take Charli out for some girly fun but he also knew that being a four year old who had friends around her with both parents, it only made her miss her mother more than ever when she saw her friends bond with their moms.

Lucas had believed he was doing a good job of playing the role of mom and dad while also partaking the role of Coach to his old high school basketball team and book writer but maybe he'd been wrong.

Charli sighed. "Danielle invited me to her birthday party."

"Honey, you know Aunt Haley—" Luke stopped, unable to say anything else, especially in front of Ms. Davis. He didn't need to let this woman know everything about their past. It was bad enough that she had just turned up out of the blue. He didn't need a stranger knowing everything about what they had already been through.

"I know that…" Charli tuned out.

Ms. Davis cleared her throat. They both glanced at her. "I suppose I could help her find something to wear."

"Yay!" Charli shouted, making Brooke jump.

Her smile was purely professional. "I'll have someone contact you in time for the party," she promised.

"Not you?" he asked.

"I don't work in the field anymore." She glanced at Charli and her face seemed wistful. "Someone has to be in charge of the company. I only came out here today because I was unable to have someone else come out."

Luke had to admit he was relieved. He wanted Charli to be taken care of by a motherly type — someone who would bake cookies, read stories, tuck her in — all the things she was missing since Peyton died.

He assumed Brooke Davis was an excellent businesswoman. She had to be to have begun Clothes over Bro's five years ago and already made such a success of it. But he doubted she had had much experience children wise.

Luke reached into a kitchen draw and withdrew a notepad and pen as he scribbled his phone number down on the paper and then tore it off, handing it to Brooke.

"These are my contact details."

"I'll be in contact with you soon. You can count on me," she said, her eyes met his and for a brief second, Luke experienced a dangerous tingle.

Strangely enough, he felt that he _could_ count on her.

* * *

Brooke sat back as the taxi drove her back to the airport. She was happy she had averted the crisis but saddened by what she had seen.

Tree Hill reminded her so much of the place where she had grown up, the memories nearly overwhelmed her. Brooke had spent years forgetting. She wasn't about to let a single visit to a town bring everything back. She was stronger than that.

Still, she felt sorry for the kid. She understood where Charli was coming from. Brooke would make certain she sent the perfect "stylist" or whatever she needed to help out Charli. As much as she could have, she knew that she couldn't just push aside this little girl's request. After all, she was young once too. She knew all about the pressures to look pretty and wear the right clothes, although her stage happened a little later in life. She guessed things now happened sooner rather than later.

Brooke spent a few seconds thinking about Lucas Scott. She couldn't help it. From the moment he'd burst into the house, she'd had a hard time keeping her eyes off him and her mind on the discussion.

She vaguely remembered his name from his brother who if she recalled used to be a pro basketball player, not that she was a fan of the game but every now and then when her hectic schedule wasn't filled up with fashion shoots, design meetings, the Clothes over Bro's store she worked from, celebrities she styled for and general appointments, she'd try to catch a few of the games. She guessed they were brothers. They shared the same last name. But none of that was what it intrigued her. She had been drawn to his sandy blonde hair and hazel eyes.

She clenched her hands together. What was wrong with her? She hadn't been attracted to a man since her ex boyfriend. Broken hearts were not easily mended.

So Brooke had remade herself into a businesswoman and concentrated on launching her fashion label. She walked the walk, talked the talk, wore the clothes, the make-up, and the hairstyle.

Brooke pushed her memories of the past into the past as the taxi pulled up to the airport.

When she returned to New York, instead of going home to her apartment, Brooke went to her Clothes over Bro's store. She needed to find someone to send to Tree Hill to help out Charli. She supposed she could have found someone if she went back to her apartment but she didn't feel like going home at that point. When she logged on to the computer, she scrolled through the list of employees who had put their names down to be volunteer stylists for the competition but came up with no results. All available employees were otherwise engaged.

She called Sadie, an employee she hired to work within one of her growing stores.

"_Hey! She answered. "What's up?"_

"I need a stylist to help a single dad in Tree Hill."

"_Ain't happening."_

"But I already promised. Please, I'm desperate," Brooke begged.

"_Then say you can't find someone. It's one measly competition. It's not like your whole company runs based on this. You're a clothes based company who provide style not stylists. Say that the competition has come to an end and we simply do not have efficient people to make the cut."_

Brooke frowned. She couldn't say no after she had already said yes. Charli was so happy when she had said that she would find someone to help her. She just couldn't break that little girl's heart.

"No, I can't do it. I can't break her heart. She was so excited."

"_Then you'll have to do it because I can't. You know my wedding is in a few weeks and you've already promised me some time off so I can finalise wedding stuff."_

"Hell," she muttered.

"_I knew you'd see it my way," Sadie said. "Bye."_

Brooke hung up the phone and glanced at the time on her phone as she bit down on her bottom lip.

Nothing was going to help. She knew there was only one person who would be taking up this offer.

* * *

The next day Brooke arrived at the store bright and early. She didn't get much sleep the night before so she decided to make the most of awaking early and go in to work to take care of business before she left for Tree Hill. Technically, she didn't need to head to Tree Hill until the day of the birthday party but Brooke figured if she travelled there now and got it done then it'd be out of the way and she wouldn't have it in the back of her mind as something she needed to deal with.

Leaving the store at midday, she rushed home so she could change out of her clothes and into a pair of dress slacks and a fitted sweatshirt. She added light brown pumps and finished off with silver earrings, a necklace and bracelet.

Before One Thirty, Brooke was on the plane and on her way to Tree Hill. She had decided to hire a car to take her from point A to point B.

When she arrived at the house, she went inside to where it was quiet. The house wasn't exactly neat but it wasn't messy either. The house was lived in. The place felt like home.

Shoes had been kicked into a corner while a coat and sweatshirt hung on a coat rack.

Cereal bowls, a juice glass and a coffee cup had been rinsed and set in the sink.

She checked the clock and saw that she had a few minutes spare before she wanted to meet Charli at school and become a stylist to a four year old so she found a piece of paper detailed with a list of important numbers of people whom were obviously noted to call in an emergency and was stuck to the fridge. She pondered through the list until she got to one that read "Heidi—Babysitter" and dialled her number to let her know of her intentions with Charli today.

After she ended the phone call, she decided to walk over to the school that was only about four blocks away on the other side of the downtown area that made up the business section and surprise the little girl.

Within seconds of arriving out the front of the school, the door slammed open and children began to pile out. Brooke stood at the edge of the footpath, her mouth curving as she watched the kids run off to their parents. Shouts and laughter filled the air.

Brooke smiled when she spotted Charli wearing jeans and a pink t-shirt.

"Charli!" Brooke called out, and lifted a hand when the girl looked her way and then turned to the girls next to her to say something before she hurried over.

"I thought someone else was going to help me," she said softly.

"I wanted to."

Not even close to the truth but the child already had abandonment issues—Charli didn't need to know that Brooke would have done anything to avoid this, if she could have.

A few minutes later, they began walking down the street. They had almost reached the end of the street the school was on when Charli spun around and made a break for it and ended up in front of a big store window a few yards away.

Brooke opened her mouth to call out but then she noticed the intent expression on Charli's face. Instead, she retraced her steps.

The window was blocked by drapes but printed on the glass in large flowing pink script was Amy's School of Ballet.

"You like ballet?" she blurted out.

Charli spun on her heel and walked away.

Just seeing the ballet school made Charli feel funny, both sad and happy like she wanted to cry and she wanted to run and jump and laugh at the same time.

She reached the house before Ms. Davis. The door was locked so she took the spare key that she knew was hidden underneath a pot plant on the porch from when her mother and father had taught her everything she ought to know if she locked herself out of the house while playing. She dumped her back pack on the coffee table and headed into the kitchen for some milk.

She saw the chicken and salad that her dad had left out for dinner and made a face. She wasn't a fan of salad or chicken for that matter. But she also didn't think she'd be allowed to eat pizza either. They had pizza the night before. She knew she wouldn't be entitled to pizza two nights in a row.

The front door closed. Charli set her cup on the counter as Brooke emerged into the kitchen. She didn't like the way Ms. Davis looked at her, as if she could see everything Charli felt and thought.

A few minutes later Brooke took in the trashed bedroom of Charli's room where she had resurfaced to after she left her. There were clothes everywhere but this didn't appear to be a temper tantrum. Brooke had seen those before. Everything got thrown around, not just clothes.

Charli was scowling in the mirror as if she didn't like what she saw. Brooke moved farther into the room. "I heard a thud up here so I came to make sure you hadn't hurt yourself. Were you looking for something?"

"Can't find what you don't have," Charli muttered.

"Which is?"

"Girl clothes."

"What are girl clothes?" Brooke asked but she already knew. After all, she was a fashion designer and she was once a girl too. This was apparently the reason Charli had even called her company in the first place.

"You know." Charli waved her hand at the pile on her bed and floor. "Not these."

"But it seems that you've got some nice things," Brooke implied, trying to cheer the little girl up.

"Yuck!" Charli exclaimed.

Brooke stifled a smile. "Then I guess that's where I come in. I'll help you."

At first Charli didn't answer but then she lifted her head and her dark, serious gaze, much like the one her mother wore at times, and met Brooke's eyes. "Can you teach me to be a girl?"

Brooke's smile faded. Poor baby, she felt sorry for her, whether she didn't know what had happened or not. "You are a girl, honey." She tried to commiserate her. She hated to think of the pain this little girl was going through when she should be having fun like any four year old who shouldn't have any care of the world.

"I don't know how to dress. I don't how to walk or talk or—" She threw her hands up in the air. "Anything but basketball — big deal."

"In a few years, a girl who knows basketball is going to be a good thing to be."

"Why?"

"Boys like basketball."

She wrinkled her nose in disgust. "Boys are dumb."

"Sounds to me like you know quite a bit about being a girl already." At Charli's confused glance, Brooke continued. "'Boys are dumb' is the password for little girls' club. At least until you are twelve." Then it became 'boys are dreamy'.

Charli gave a wan smile. She understood that Brooke was kidding. For four, she was very intuitive.

Charli sighed. "But I still don't have anything to wear."

Though Brooke didn't want Charli dressing like all the other girls, she understood her need to fit in, and with that she could help — even to a girl at a young age.

"We can put something together that'll work."

"We can?"

"You bet. That's why you called me." Brooke shook her fistful of ribbons. "These aren't just for hair anymore."

"What?"

"Put on your favourite jeans."

Charli dug through the pile on her bed and found a slightly threaded pair. Though Brooke wanted her to choose again, she didn't. People paid good money to buy jeans that scuffed up.

Brooke turned around while Charli slipped them on, then she held up the lengths of ribbon next to Charli's face. It was never too early to begin coordinating colours with your skin tone. "You should wear bright colours like red, purple and orange. Forget pink."

"No problem," Charli muttered.

Brooke withdrew two long red ribbons from the cache then chose a purple one. She threaded them both through the belt loops of the jeans, tied them in a big knot and let the end flow down. "What do you think?"

Charli's answer was a grin.

"Do you have a white t-shirt?"

The girl pulled one out of her closet and put it on. Brooke rolled up the cuffs to just below her elbows then tied the tails into a knot at the waist. To cap off the ensemble, she braided more colourful ribbons and wrapped them around Charli's right wrist.

"One more thing," Brooke said, grabbing the hair brush from Charli's night stand and brushing Charli's blonde locks effortlessly before she lifted her hair up and placed a red ribbon at the nape of her neck and wrapped it around to the top of her head where she tied a bow to secure it adequately.

"Wow. Thanks, Ms. Davis," Charli breathed.

"Call me Brooke."

The phone rang; Charli answered. The joy on her face faded and Brooke took a step forward, worried there'd been an accident.

Charli waved her off then took a deep breath.

"No, my dad won't be helping because I'm not going to the picnic this year. Bye." And before the woman on the other line could respond, Charli had hung up the phone.

"You're not going to a picnic?" Brooke asked, trying to collect her confusion together to form a question. She knew she was butting in but she just couldn't help herself. It was something that she had become accustomed to after the many years she had often meddled into her friends' life. She just had a knack for it.

"Nope." Charli shook her head, looking at herself in the mirror.

"But a picnic sounds like fun. Are you sure you don't want to go?

Charli stared at herself in the mirror, her brows creasing in frustration. "Uh-huh, 'cause it's a picnic for mommies and my mommy has gone away, so I can't go."

Charli ran out of the room, with Brooke trailing behind her until she reached a bedroom down the hall that obviously belonged to her dad. Walking into the room, she found Charli perched beside the queen sized bed with a photo in her hand. Charli looked up from the photo and saw Brooke coming towards her. She dropped to the floor and knelt down beside her so that she was at her eye level.

Brooke felt her heart drop in agony for the child. At hearing the words come out of her mouth, she just wanted to pick up the little girl and cuddle her and tell her that everything would be okay but she couldn't do that. She couldn't make such a big promise to a small child and reassure herself that it was going to be okay when she wasn't sure herself that it would be. She couldn't break her delicate heart again, especially when it was visibly clear that she already had her heart broken once before.

She glimpsed to the small wooden frame which held a photo portrait of Charli and a woman with blonde curly hair who was broadly smiling as she engulfed Charli in a hug. Brooke took note that the woman was obviously her mother, not by the fact that they were in the picture together but by the notion that notwithstanding the lack of curly hair, Charli was a dead ringer for her mother.

"Where's mommy, sweetheart?" Brooke asked tenderly in a soothing tone, obviously aware of how the question she let fill the air could go in either a good or bad way.

Charli's eyes dropped down towards the picture in the frame. "Daddy says that mommy is up in heaven," she said quietly, running her small fingers over the frame. "And that mommy is watching over me like my guardian angel." She looked back to Brooke. "Do you think she is?" As she asked, her eyes looked as though they were full of trepidation and hope without her knowing the definitions to the words.

Brooke grinned back and no longer could contain herself for what she was about to do next; she draped her arm around Charli's tiny waist and pulled her closer towards her as she planted a kiss on her forehead to comfort the child. "Honey, I'm sure your mommy is watching over you and that she'd be extremely proud of you," Brooke replied, letting go of Charli. "And you know what?"

"What?" Charli asked, turning to look at Brooke with eagerness.

Brooke leaned in to her. "You even look like your mom," she said in a raucous tone to her voice.

"That's what daddy says."

"Well, he's right, because you do," Brooke responded. "But, I think you should go to the picnic because you're going to have a lot of fun."

"Really?"

"Oh, yeah," Brooke nodded. "You'll eat, play with your friends and do lots of other fun stuff. And I'm sure that your mom will be watching you and your dad from heaven to make sure you're both having fun."

"OK, I will tell daddy we're going on a picnic. Will you come too?" she asked Brooke, sounding much happier now that she had been reassured about her mother watching over to protect her.

Brooke wasn't sure what she should say. She was glad to help Charli out with her style and dilemma to go to the picnic, but her going to the picnic? She just wasn't sure she should get anymore involved with Charli and her dad than she already was. She had already put herself in the middle; did she really want to push herself further in the middle? Then again, she also didn't want to break Charli's heart anymore than it already had been. She was stumped. What was she to do?

Before Brooke could respond with an answer, Charli stood up from her sitting position on the floor and reached for the cordless phone that held its spot on the bedside table near the bed. Giving it to Brooke, she said proudly, "You can help plan it. It's going to be awesome." Knowing all too well how to work a phone that didn't puzzle Brooke in the slightest, Charli pressed the redial button and then thrusted the phone at Brooke as she jumped up on to the bed and sprawled herself out.

Brooke took the phone with an uneasy wave of reluctance as though she was being set upon and had no way of saying no and risk disappointing the little girl but at the same time, Brooke also found herself looking forward to planning such a picnic and spending more time with Charli—something she didn't think she'd end up doing after today.

While Brooke spoke to Mrs. Wainwrights, the woman in charge of the picnic, Charli jumped off the bed and headed to the living room in favour of the television set.

They were saying their goodbyes when Brooke had an impulsive thought to ask if her daughter Danielle took ballet lessons. She did and so Brooke asked to have the phone number and as soon as she hung up from her, she dialled Amy's School of Ballet and registered Charli for her first class. Now she just needed to confer with Lucas and hope that he would be alright with everything that was planned.


	3. Chapter Three

**An Unexpected Family**

**Chapter Three**

Lucas had a good day and as he drove home later that night, Luke catalogued every amenity. School was only a few blocks from home. Home was only a few blocks from work. Local merchants selling just about everything a person could want. All his life he had dreamed of raising a family in Tree Hill. Now that his family was here, it was just him and Charli. He doubted there'd ever be a big family for him, especially curvy, brunette people who put themselves ahead of everything else.

He pulled into the driveway, warmed by the lights in the windows, the knowledge that his daughter was here, sleeping in her own bed or possibly his. Ever since Peyton had died, Charli had been reclined to sleep alone in her own bed and instead she favoured the company of going to sleep with Lucas. It was only recently when she had returned to a normal routine and began sleeping in her bed again.

Luke climbed out of his car and let himself in the back door. A plate of chicken and pasta sat on the counter, covered with a plastic cover he hadn't even realised he owned but it only made him relive the memories he was trying hard to forget when Peyton was alive and if he was late arriving home due to his time spent conjuring up ideas to write for his latest book, the games he coached away from home or when he returned home from New York after weekly or monthly trips to see his editor, he'd always return home to dinner waiting for him while Peyton and Charli would be in bed asleep. It was always a nice gesture and Lucas hadn't realised how much he missed it until he suddenly had it upon himself again.

He stepped into the living room but no Ms. Davis. Heidi had taken the reassurance to phone and let him know she wasn't needed to care for Charli that afternoon because Brooke had taken care of it. For a while, it was bizarre for Luke to think he could trust the woman but strangely enough, he wanted to think that he could. After he checked the surrounding areas downstairs, he wandered upstairs and found her on the floor landing, turning away from Charli's room as if she had just checked in on the child. As he loomed at the top of the steps, she gasped and took a step backward, putting herself between him and Charli.

"It's just me," he said quickly.

"I didn't hear you come in." Her voice trembled a little.

"Is everything okay?"

She nodded then indicated with a flick of her wrist that they should head downstairs to talk. He moved aside as she went past and got a whiff of her hair—summer wind with a hint of wild flowers.

He followed her down, admiring how her legs brushed against the fabric of her pants. Her sweatshirt rode up to reveal a slice of skin, a shade lighter than the colour of her pants.

She had kicked off her shoes somewhere and her feet, in sheer stockings, whispered against the carpet. With her matching toes and fingernails painted a deep shade of red while also being perfectly manicured, her silver jewellery and her hair swept to one side, she was overdressed for this job, this town, this house. He needed to remember that while clothes might make a man, they defined a woman.

Brooke Davis' definition read; _don't touch! That means you, Lucas._  
"I hope you don't mind that I gave your nanny a day off. Also I made you a plate." She retrieved her shoes from where she'd left them under the coffee table.

He gave them a quick once over and wasn't surprised to see light brown pumps with heels too high to chase children. Not that Charli would need chasing—hopefully.

"Thanks," he said. "I appreciate it and I'm sure Heidi does too."

"No problem."

She gave him a quick run down on the day. What Charli had eaten, the progress on her reason for being here—as if he cared. She hesitated, biting her bottom lip and studying his face, unsure of how she should go about and say that she'd be spending more time here, now that she was faced with planning a picnic for Mother's Day.

"What else?" he asked. "Did she break something, take something? Did she get mud on you, herself, the furniture and the walls?"

"What? No." Her expression sharpened. "Has she done that before?"

"Most of them twice."

Her eyebrows lifted as she entwined her fingers together. "I don't know how to say this—"

"It mostly works if you just say it." Luke interjected.

"Right," Brooke watched him intently. "Well, then, I'll just say it. I signed Charli up for ballet lessons."

Lucas blinked. He put his finger in his ear and wiggled before he shook his head and gave up. "Why?"

"The other girls go to ballet."

"Charli isn't like other girls."

"Maybe she wants to be."

"Since when?"

"I'm not sure but she seems to think she's a bad girl."

"She's not a bad girl."

"Not a bad—" Brooke made quotes with her fingers in the air "—girl, but a bad _girl_. As in, she doesn't know how to be one."

"That doesn't make any sense." He glanced upward towards where his daughter slept. "She can't be what she already is."

"She's a little girl growing up only with her father. It doesn't work out very well when you're different."

"Being different is special."

"Of course it is but she needs to find that out for herself. It won't help her if being different means she's alone."

He stuffed his hands into his pockets and looked away.

"What's wrong with you?" she asked. "It's just ballet. Heidi thought it was a good idea."

Slowly, Luke glanced back. "You discussed this with Heidi?"

"Seemed the thing to do when she showed up a few hours ago and didn't want to leave." Brooke smirked. "Checking up on me?"

"Not really. You weren't supposed to be here," he muttered. "Why are you?"

"Careful, I might start to think you don't like me very much." His gaze flicked to hers but all he saw was amusement. "Relax," she said. "I'd have done the same thing. Charli's your most precious possession. Making sure she's safe, by whatever means you've got, has to be your number one priority."

Luke frowned. She didn't seem the type to agree with that. He cast a quick glance at her perfect clothes. She seemed more the type to put her career, her condo, her car in front of her child.

Man, he sounded cynical and it was probably because he was.

"Why are you here?" he repeated.

The earnest expression fled and was replaced by a professional mask. "I was the only one willing to make it."

"You could have backed out."

Her chin lifted. "Clothes over Bro's keep its promises."

Though Lucas wanted to send her on her way, he needed the help. He could put up with how she made him feel—by turns angry, frustrated, annoyed and aroused—however long it took her to do whatever she was doing to help Charli. Then she was free to go and he didn't have to see her anymore.

"Well, I won't keep you…" he said.

She made no move to leave. "Actually there was something else I need to tell you."

"Okay then." After everything else this woman had put before him, he was sure he could handle anything else that came his way when it involved his daughter.

"Charli has asked me to assist some of the other mothers at her school plan a picnic—a mother's day picnic," Brooke said confidently, or trying to sound as confident as she could. She knew what the two of them had been through, and so she wasn't sure how he'd come about knowing that Charli had asked her to plan the mother's day picnic, when she wasn't her mother.

"She asked you to do what?" Lucas asked in shock as he tried to get his head around it. He couldn't stand to think that this woman, whom he didn't really know to a bar of soap, would be helping to plan his daughter's school picnic.

"She wasn't going to go." Brooke paused, looking over to Lucas who looked confused, which prompted her to continue. "To the picnic, she wasn't going to go because she didn't think she belonged there because she wouldn't have her mom with her."

Lucas looked startled and pained like he had just been gutted or received a blow to the stomach. "How do you know about that?" he asked with a raised eyebrow while eyeing her interrogatingly.

"She—Charli was upset when I found her clutching a photo frame containing a picture of her mom. It wasn't hard to guess why she was afraid to think she wouldn't be allowed to go the picnic. She said that her mother…your wife was up in heaven."

"I don't understand…so why did she ask you for help?" Lucas asked suspiciously with a slight tone of annoyance coming out in his voice. He had a right to sound annoyed, didn't he?

"Well, I managed to convince her that she should go because she'd only be missing out on a lot of fun if she didn't go." Brooke sighed, letting out a breath she hadn't known she had been holding. "You should have seen her face when she asked me if I would help out. She was so excited. I didn't want to have to break her adoring heart when she was in such a place of alienation."

Luke closed his eyes, remembering all the times he, Peyton and Charli had spent together as a whole family. It was pure bliss.

"Mr. Scott?"

He opened his eyes and she moved closer. Too close for his liking. He could see the brilliant green of her irises, and the amazingly long and dark lashes.

Her lips painted the same colour as her fingers and toes were pursed together tightly. She seemed worried.

How long had he been standing there remembering precious memories of what his family used to be? Maybe it was long enough to make her think he was losing his mind.

"Call me Lucas," he said before he wished he hadn't said anything when his voice came out hoarse and low.

"Lucas," she repeated, her focus skimming over his lips before she jerked her attention back to his eyes. "I'm Brooke."

He took a giant step back as his body responded with a familiar jolt. This was such a bad idea.

Brooke took a deep breath and then said, "Lucas, I'm sorry to hear about your wife but I can assure you I have no interest to take over the role of your late wife and play mother to Charli. I know no one can replace her."

Lucas squared his shoulders. "You knew I doubted your intentions?"

Brooke shrugged. "Mr. Scott, I may not know you very well but I'm not an idiot. I could tell you doubted my involvement in your daughter's life, especially when she's missing her mother in her life at such a tender age. It can't be easy for her to experience everything she's going to go through and not have her mom alongside her when all the other little girls will be going through the same things only their mothers are there to see them through it. I can promise you that I refuse to play substitute mommy because although I have never met your wife, I'd give anything to bring her back to you and your family, if it meant Charli would have her mother in her life again. But I can't do that. I wish I could but I can't. I simply want to help out a little girl who has asked for help. I don't turn my back on someone in need—even if that person is a little girl. I think she needs this."

He stiffened as every lustful thought fled. "What is that supposed to mean?"

"It means nothing."

"You think I pushed my daughter into becoming a tomboy and I taught her to play basketball so that I don't have to see her mother in her every day. You have no idea what that's like."

Silence fell between them. Brooke retrieved her purse and coat and then opened the door before pausing to look back at Lucas who merely stood there with that same pain in his eyes that she saw earlier. "Luke, it sounds like you think that."

* * *

Brooke drove away from Tree Hill to the airport, once again wishing she didn't have to return. She'd felt something tonight—not only for Charli but for the father too—something extremely dangerous. She had liked him.

Brooke didn't like men.

No, that wasn't true. She _liked_ them, it was just the busy lifestyle she led caused her to not enable enough time to be with men.

She didn't breathe in their smoky, cinnamon aftershave and stare at the five o-clock shadow just darkening their jaw. She especially didn't long to comfort them or to kiss them.

What was it about Lucas Scott that called to the part of herself she had buried back in Connecticut?

"Damn it!" She smacked her palm against the steering wheel. If it wasn't for Charli, she'd make any excuse so that she didn't have to return to Tree Hill.

However, Charli needed her and a child in need was not something Brooke could ever turn her back on.

She'd just have to stifle whatever bizarre urges she'd felt in that living room with Lucas. He was _so_ not her type.

Brooke's story wasn't a new one.

She'd been married after she finished high school to her high school sweetheart, not because she had to be but because she'd wanted to be. Her childhood was mostly spent with friends while she was abandoned by her father who worked endless hours and preferred to throw a credit card in Brooke's hands instead of spending time with her. Her mother was too into her cash flow and Botox to even remotely care about her daughter.

Brooke had never really known what a _real_ family was and so her usual Friday and weekend nights consisted of getting drunk as she partied away with friends and occasionally hooked up with random boys. It wasn't until she met Chris Keller, the one boy whom she thought could change everything she knew about she should act and be like. They did everything together.

They both shared different dreams—Chris was a would-be singer and Brooke, an aspiring fashion designer—yet the one dream they did share the same was being with each other. They couldn't imagine their lives being lived without the other beside them, despite the direction their future paths would take them, thus their own personal choice to marry at such a tender age of eighteen.

So they had married and resided in Connecticut, each focusing on their individual passions of achieving their dreams. Chris' dream had chased him to Los Angeles and so with weekend visits and endless phone calls, they had kept up and maintained their marriage. All appeared well but under the surface and unbeknown to Brooke who was still living in bliss, something was boiling to the core. A year had passed and Brooke who had made weekend plans to travel to L.A to see Chris received a startling rude awakening when she caught her husband entangled with some woman whom she didn't know.

She had always been one to not take betrayal well and so she had stormed out of that room and his life without standing around long enough to wait for an explanation. She didn't want to hear it. Brooke always appeared vulnerable and fragile but this time she knew it had to be different. While Brooke had been lying in bed mourning the end of her marriage, he had been finding time to let loose on the publicity side with his long strings of women on his arm.

It was then that Brooke knew she had to be the strong, wilful and determined young woman she knew she could be. Brooke knew her marriage had succumbed to the pressures of their own individual dreams and what each wanted out of life. Maybe they were just never meant to be, leaving their only attraction to the other was as high school lovers when everything always seemed perfect and happy like they didn't have a care of the world. Their dreams were all but a lifetime away.

So Brooke had forced her broken hearted sorrow to pick herself up and carry on with her life as she knew she ought to. And so she had. She had hired a lawyer and before the divorce had become final, she had packed her bags and moved to New York, ready to begin the new chapter in her life. It was time for the new Brooke Davis to take a chance on life. She began working to fulfil her desires of owning her very own fashion label.

She had put everything into her career, all while forgetting everything she ever knew about Chris Keller. She vowed she'd never open herself to that kind of heartache again.

* * *

Lucas spent a restless night, tormented in turn by flashes of Brooke Davis's red lips and horrific scenarios of muffled plays and a digit error count.

Charli was already dressed and slurping her cereal when Lucas came downstairs.

"What gives?" he asked. Usually he had to pull the covers off her bed to wake her up.

She shrugged a gesture so adult-like and so Peyton-like that he winced. He took in the ribbons around her wrist and through her belt loop and hair. She looked adorable—a combination of little girl and fashionista.

"How did you—?" He waved vaguely at her outfit.

"Brooke helped me."

Taking in all of his daughter's recent changes, he realised he should have known that Brooke would have something to do with it.

"Brooke said that you asked her to teach you to be a girl."

Charli hunched her shoulders and practically put her nose into her bowl. "So?" she asked in a muffled tone.

"I didn't realise…" He paused and then tried again, this time rephrasing his sentence a different way. "I didn't know—"

She glanced up. "How could you? You're a _guy_."

When had that become such a bad thing? What had happened to the days when she actually wanted to play ball with him? Had they gone for good?

"It's okay then?" Charli asked.

Lucas blinked. Had he missed something?

"Ballet? I can go, right daddy?" Charli asked again.

Lucas sighed. "If that's what you want."

For the first time since before Peyton had passed away, Lucas saw Charli's face light up with glee. "Uh-huh, more than just about anything."

How had he not known that? More and more he was beginning to feel like Charli was growing up beyond his eyes and the more time passed, the more he knew nothing about his four year old daughter.

"I need new shoes." Charli stuck out her foot, covered in grey, ripped sneakers.

Looking down at her shoes, he mentally checked another tick in the "I suck at being a dad" column.

"I can't tonight," he said. "My game—"

"Brooke can take me. I have to get ballet stuff before class."

"But my game—"

Ever since Lucas had become the coach of his old high school basketball team, The Ravens, Charli had come to every game with him to watch from the sidelines with Jamie, Nathan and Haley's five year old son. Because both were so close in age and not to mention cousins, they had come to depend on the other a lot and liked to play basketball with each other whenever they could.

"Ballet finishes at five. Your game is at six," Charli quipped. "And I have to show Jamie my girl stuff and that I'm better at basketball than he is. He thinks he can play basketball better than me. I have to beat him."

Lucas reached for his wallet and doled two twenties onto the counter. After Charli left, he wrote a note to Brooke, detailing what she needed to buy Charli and then asking her to bring his daughter to the game.

He thought of Brooke Davis arriving at the basketball court in her too-high heels and her too-perfect suit. Just seeing her there should make him realise that a woman like her had no place in his life.


	4. Chapter Four

**A/N:** Okay, so I'm unsure as to whether it actually snows in North Carolina but for the sake of this story and my ideas, it is going to snow in Tree Hill. I just thought I'd let anyone know who wonders why I've added snow when it doesn't appear there. Again, it's all a part of my imagination to make the story progress the way I need it to. Anyway, thanks to everyone who has reviewed or set this story to alert. I appreciate to know that there are people who are reading this. Enjoy!! :)

**An Unexpected Family**

**Chapter Four**

By noon, Brooke had arrived back in Tree Hill. She'd gone to the office, dealt with what required dealing with and rerouted the calls to her cell phone.

Brooke had set up a meeting with Mrs. Wainwrights to get her notes and files on the picnic. Since Charli and Danielle both had ballet class together, Brooke arranged to meet her there.

She managed to hustle Charli through the shoe store and purchase new sneakers, ballet slippers and a pair of pink sandals with tiny etched flowers across the straps.

Then they speed shopped at the department store to grab the required black leotard and pink tights, Charli made a face at the colour but didn't argue. Brooke also found a winter coat on clearance, several pairs of winter leggings and a short yellow skirt with pansy flowers embroidered on it.

They made it to Amy's with just enough time to spare so that Charli could change into her dance outfit.

Brooke had expected Amy to be an anorexic ex-dancer with a pretentious French accent. Instead, she discovered a local mom who'd loved to dance. But she had no plans to head to New York. Instead, she had returned to Tree Hill and opened her own school. Girls came to learn both art and grace.

A small, separate room fronted a large window through which the mothers could watch since none were allowed inside during lessons. Many brought younger children who toddled off to play with the toys in the toy box while the waiting moms said hello to Brooke before settling into reading books, mingling with the other mothers or watch their children through the window.

Brooke and Aubrey sat down at two chairs in the corner of the room. Aubrey was a tall, slim, efficient woman who told Brooke to call her if she had any questions. Brooke took a quick look through the file and was impressed with her notes.

"This seems comprehensive to me," she said. "I was thinking of going with a Mexican fiesta for the theme.

Aubrey's forehead creased. "Theme?"

"You don't have a theme for the picnic?"

"Mother's Day is the theme."

"That's an occasion, not a theme."

Aubrey shrugged. "I was lucky to get the balloons ordered and games organised."

"Well, what about food?"

"I've got hot dogs. I'll have the men grill."

"Has anyone done anything different?"

Aubrey tilted her head and narrowed her eyes and thought back. "Once we grilled chicken."

"In other words, you grill," Brooke said.

"The point of a Mother's Day picnic is that the mothers don't cook. Which means—"

"Someone has to and the men know how to grill."

"Exactly," Aubrey beamed. "Plus, we need to stay within the budget."

"What's the budget?" Brooke asked.

Aubrey pointed to a number on the first page. "That's for everything—food, decorations and entertainment."

"Entertainment, like as in games?"

"Or music, a magician or something to make the day special."

"Okay." With that budget, the Mexican Fiesta was out but she'd think of something.

Absently, Brooke turned toward the window. All the other mothers had left their seats and were now staring through the glass. A few whispers while other pointed and several more glanced in her direction then quickly looked back.

Panicked, Brooke got to her feet, ignoring the file that spilled to the floor. She hurried across the room and peered in; terrified she'd find Charli on the floor broken, bleeding or both.

However, Charli wasn't on the floor. No one was. The class danced and at first, Brooke couldn't tell which girl was Charli. They all moved so smoothly. When she did find her, she was amazed.

"Wow," Brooke whispered. Not only had Charli caught on to the steps her first day but she'd caught on better than anyone in the room—or maybe she was just being biased.

She was wonderful, stunning and a talented natural.

When the song was over, Charli appeared dazed as if she hadn't known she could do that. She caught Brooke's eye. The joy on the child's face started a warm glow in Brooke's chest. She gave Charli a thumbs-up.

For the rest of the lesson, Brooke watched the tiny dancers in awe as she tried to stop her heart from breaking at the thought of all she'd lost that she had never even had.

* * *

Charli couldn't believe she was here, in ballet class. And she was good. But that wasn't what made her tummy all loopy. Turning around and seeing Brooke in the window had.

She hadn't expected her stylist to watch her. When Charli had finished the first dance and known that she had nailed it, she had wanted Brooke to see. When she'd turned, Brooke had been there and her face had looked as happy as Charli felt.

The class ended. Danielle and her friends gathered around Charli. "You want to come and play at my house?" Danielle asked.

"My dad has a game tonight."

"You're going to watch basketball?" Danielle's nose wrinkled as if Charli had admitted to rolling in swamp water because she liked the smell.

"Yes."

She knew her dad would be upset if she didn't go to the game. If he got the same great feeling from seeing Charli alongside him on the sidelines as Charli had gotten from Brooke watching her do her thing, she understood why he always wanted her there—even when her mother had gone too. She couldn't take that away from him and she didn't really want to.

"Hey, twinkle toes." Brooke motioned for Charli to hurry up. Charli grinned. She liked all the names Brooke called her especially _sweetheart_ and _honey_. These were the names she dearly missed when she remembered her mom was no longer there to call her those sweet names she loved hearing her call her. It was these times when she did miss her mom too much and only wished she was still here with her and her dad. Though, the way

Brooke said them made Charli feel as if she truly meant those words too in the same context to how her mother had meant them.

"You were amazing." Brooke helped Charli into her new coat then handed her the new sneakers. Charli couldn't walk around town in the ballet slippers even if it wasn't cold enough to freeze her feet off.

"Thanks," Charli murmured, uncertain how to handle the attention she was receiving and uncertain what to say to such compliments. She was amazing but if she said that, everyone would call her stuck-up, which was almost as bad as people calling her a boy—which she clearly wasn't.

"We need to hurry home so you can change, eat and get to the school."

At the house, Brooke made her a grilled cheese sandwich and heated tomato soup while Charli tried to figure out what to wear. She knew her dad wanted her to come wearing the kid size jersey he had given her with the number three on the back because it was the number he played when he was in high school. He knew Jamie would also be sporting his own kid size jersey with Nathan's jersey number "23" on the back of his jersey that Nathan had given him. Although she couldn't stand to dress like a boy again, so she stared at the jersey and told herself she wouldn't cry.

"Is something wrong?" Brooke asked as she stood in the doorway.

Charli looked at Brooke then back at the outfit on the bed.

"Oh," Brooke said.

How did she know what Charli was thinking without her saying a word? It was both spooky and fantastic.

"What should I do? Charli asked. "I don't want to hurt daddy's feelings."

"Of course not, sometimes men are—"

"Stupid," Charli muttered.

Brooke laughed. "Well, let's say slow. They try but they miss." She picked up the blue jersey and then removed the new skirt from the bag and gave it to Charli who slipped it on, tugging a turtle neck sweater over her head followed by the jersey. Brooke had pulled blue ribbons from the pile and made another bracelet. She handed Charli a pair of blue tights, then found a pair of white socks in Charli's drawer and showed her how to fold the tops over and over into anklets. Last but not least came her new sneakers.

Charli's eyes met Brooke's in the mirror and together they grinned.

As they drove to the school, Charli remained silent. It had never occurred to her that she might want a new mom. She had been too busy missing and wishing her real mom was still with her.

But she had to admit that it wasn't going to happen. Her mom was never going to come back to her. She was up in heaven for good. As much as she wished and wanted her mom to watch her at ballet, plan the Mother's Day picnic, showing her how to dress in a way that was a mixture of girl stuff and Charli so that Charli felt both comfortable and pretty, she knew it wasn't going to take place.

Charli found it amazing how much Brooke could understand her in the same way as her mom did in the years when she did have her mom beside her.

Charli looked at Brooke and discovered something else. As much as she loved her mom and wished she was here to share all these moments with her, she also knew that she wanted a mom. It was pure and simple and not just for a day, a week or even a month. She wanted one forever.

She wanted this one.

* * *

Lucas was scanning the bleachers when Brooke arrived with Charli in tow. He lifted his hand, waving them over, but Charli tugged on Brooke's arm, whispering something and they went to sit behind the commentators. It was then that he saw what Charli was wearing. She resembled a mini-cheerleader. He'd been concerned that she was going to freeze in that skirt but she had on blue leggings and a turtle neck sweater that looked warm enough.

"I'll be right back." He handed the roster to Skillz and hurried over to Charli and Brooke. Leaning down, he tweaked his daughter's nose. "You look great."

"I do?" Her eyes widened.

"Always."

She beamed and straightened her bracelet. The ever-changing rainbow of ribbons around her tiny wrist was starting to grow on him.

He turned to Brooke. "I didn't mean for you to stay. Charli can sit along the sidelines."

"I love basketball."

"You do?"

Brooke laughed. "Don't sound so shocked. We'll have a great time. Won't we, funny bunny?" She turned to Charli and the two of them shared a smile that somehow made Lucas feel left out.

"Okay," he said, backing up. "I'll talk to you after the game."

"Go, Ravens!" the two of them shouted and the entire crowd echoed the sentiment.

Lucas thought that just seeing Brooke in his environment would force him to realise she was not meant for this town or for him. Unfortunately, it had the opposite effect.

Though, she had worn jeans today, she'd donned boots in defence to the cold. They were black, high-heeled shiny things that drew the eye to the slim length of her calf. What was it about high heels that made a woman's legs go on forever?

She had also let her hair fall down around her shoulders. Her blue sweater managed to be both bulky and clingy, the material soft and fleecy. He wanted to touch it and then he wanted to touch her.

Gritting his teeth, Lucas turned away.

Years of discipline had allowed him to do his job without being distracted but right now, it was proving impossible when he heard the sound of her voice. Instead of standing like the outsider she was, Brooke talked with everyone, including Haley; she laughed and she cheered on his team.

Several other little girls arrived and ran straight to Charli, giggling and shrieking. What was it about little girl shrieks?

Brooke organized the girls into a pint-size cheerleading squad. She taught them several cheers—she had obviously been a cheerleader as a teenager—and within a few quarters, he found himself enjoying the rhythmic chants. Lucas had to admit, they were damn cute and Charli, right in the middle of them, seemed happier than he could recall her being these past few months.

He'd been worried she wouldn't cope well enough without her mother, but so far, she was proving him wrong. For a four year old, she was showing to be an amazing and daring little girl.

Of course she'd changed quite a bit in that week or maybe it was Lucas who had seen her change dramatically in a week and he wasn't sure how he felt about it. She'd been his basketball buddy, his best pal. Now she was a little girl, heading far too fast toward young woman and making him realise how very little he knew about the species.

The buzzer rung as the final basket was thrown through the air and went directly through the hoop, winning the point and the game.

Everyone on the bench jumped up. Nathan pumped Lucas's hand enthusiastically. Lucas turned in Charli's direction and saw his little cheerleader shriek again.

Lucas had won his first official game as coach.

* * *

Brooke stared down at the court. The happiness and pride on Lucas's face made her chest go tight as it had when she'd seen Charli's expression after her first ballet lesson. She was getting too involved with the Scott's.

She needed to remember that she was only helping out. This wasn't her family and it never would be.

She had made a mistake staying for the game but she did like basketball. She had also wanted to make sure that Charli was going to be all right. Leaving her on the bench wasn't responsible despite the fact that she had Haley sitting beside her.

"Brooke!"

Charli threw her arms around Brooke's waist and pressed her head into Brooke's chest/ Thought she had vowed to pull back emotionally, Brooke found herself hugging the child and never wanting to let go.

"That was the best!"  
"Glad you had fun." Brooke forced herself to release the girl. "We'd better get you home."

"Are you coming tomorrow?" Charli asked.

"Tomorrow's Saturday. Your dad will be home."

"So?"

"You won't need me. I'll be back on Monday."

The weekend had come at an opportune time. The separation would do them good.

"Did everyone hear?" Brooke turned to Haley. "There's a snow storm on the way.

"How much?" Brooke asked.

"A foot by morning," Haley said, lifting her face to the sky and inhaled. "Can't you smell it?"

Brooke didn't smell anything but trouble.

By the time she turned into the driveway, flakes began to tumble down from the sky.

"You'd better get dressed for bed," she said, staring out the window with a frown.

"I don't have to go to bed, do I? Can't I wait for daddy?"

"I suppose that would be all right. Just get into your pyjamas and we'll watch TV until he comes home."

Charli couldn't have been upstairs ten minutes. When she came down, she joined Brooke at the window. "Wow!"

An inch of snow already covered the green grass and dusted the yellow daffodils shivering in front of the house across the street. The thought of driving to the airport in this mess made Brooke shiver too.

"Can I go out and play?" Charli asked.

"No."

"Why not?"

Brooke could tell by the tone of Charli's whine that she was over tired. If she could get the child to sit down for five minutes, she'd fall asleep.

"Your dad will want to take you out the first time. We'll wait for him," Brooke explained. "Besides, it is too cold to go and play out side. You'll catch a cold."

Charli pouted but only for a brief second. "Can we watch Cinderella?"

"You bet."

The two of them curled together on the couch, tugging a blanket draped at one end over their legs. The next thing Brooke knew, she heard a bang in the distance then felt a sudden chill. A shadow fell over them and she pulled Charli closer towards her.

But the shadow lifted the little girl and took her away. Brooke reached out but she was alone. She was always alone.

She awoke with a gasp. The movie was over; the screen had gone blue and Charli was gone. Beyond the window, the world was a swirl of white.

The stairs creaked. Lucas appeared in the entryway to the living room.

"I put her in bed," he said softly. "She didn't even move."

"Big day," Brooke nodded, swinging her legs onto the floor and stood up. "I need to go."

"You can't."

"It's that bad?" she asked although she knew it was.

"It took me twenty minutes to get home. You can stay in the guest room tonight."

"Thanks." Though being here with Lucas in the dark made her nervous, the thought of driving through the storm terrified her. And it wasn't like there would even be a flight to catch to take her back to New York—well, not in this weather anyway. She had to admit that her best bet was to take up Lucas' offer. It was her only choice, especially when she didn't feel like driving to some hotel for the night or sleeping at the airport.

Lucas went to the window and peered out. Charli's never seen snow. Tomorrow will be fun for her."

The thought of Lucas Scott building a snow fort made her smile. The image was charming—too charming.

Brooke experienced a twinge of unease at their isolation along with an unexpected thrill of awareness as his body hovered inches from hers.

The blanket of snow just outside the window caused a silvery glow to filter in, casting his face in blue shadows. She could see the glint of his dark gaze. She felt the heat of his skin, a contrast to the chill that frosted the air outside.

"I want Charli to feel safe and loved," he said.

"She does."

His head came up; their noses brushed. Brooke caught her breath as their eyes met and something wild flared between them.

She kissed him or maybe he kissed her. She wasn't sure but it didn't really matter either. She hadn't been kissed in so long that her legs nearly gave out from the sheer pleasure of it.

His mouth was warm and soft. His hand cupped her head, tilting her so he could explore every corner with his tongue.

She should have stopped the embrace immediately but she couldn't. The idea hadn't even crossed her mind. All she wanted was yes she wanted more. Tentatively she touched his tongue with hers, running her fingers through his sandy blonde hair.

She wasn't sure how far things would have gone if the wind hadn't battered the house, taking hold of the door and rattling it as if someone were coming in.

They sprang apart like teenagers caught kissing by their parents and then stood staring at each other wide-eyed as the snow dropped down outside.

Brooke found her voice first. "Where did that come from?"

"I don't know."

"I didn't think you even liked me."

"I didn't think I did either."

"Well, what happened then?"

"You," he began then stopped. "We…well, I—" He scowled. "Hell."

"That about sums it up," Brooke agreed.

"Can you stay another week?" Her eyebrows lifted at the sudden, out of place question. "I have to go to New York and Heidi has been called out of town to see her daughter. It would really help if you were here for Charli. She really likes you."

And because she couldn't say no, even if she should be in New York, herself, Brooke had to say "Yes." It made her realise that there wasn't anything she wouldn't do for this little girl and she'd just have to work from the boutique here in Tree Hill. Maybe it would be a good thing after all.


	5. Chapter Five

**A/N:** Sadly, there are only three to four more chapters left to this story and as much as I have enjoyed writing this, I have only ever planned to go as far I have now. It was only going to be a short story to ease me into another Brucas story that I've had an idea to write about for some time. Anyway, on with the story. There's a mild sexual scene in this chapter and I do hope it is okay because I'm not the best at writing those sort of intimate moments though I try to show as much as I need to so you get the picture and I think I'm getting better than when I first started writing and I couldn't seem to write what I was imagining. Enjoy!! :)

**An Unexpected Family**

**Chapter Five**

Morning dawned and the snow still fell. Since he hadn't fallen asleep for hours after he kissed the fashion designer, Lucas slept late.

He'd always been disgusted by men who could move on so free and easily after their spouse's passing when they were supposed to be complete and utterly in love with them. What kind of guy did that?

A desperate, pathetic one and he had no excuse.

He _was_ desperate and he had been unable to stop himself from touching her as they stood bathed in the eerie, white reflection of the snow.

Snow in April. Last night the storm had seemed surreal, making everything that had happened the same. Had he really kissed Brooke Davis?

"Stupid," he muttered. How was he going to face her this morning without remembering what had happened last night and what he had dreamed about doing to her? He knew he shouldn't be feeling this way. It was too soon to be feeling what he was feeling for another woman. Peyton hadn't even been dead a year yet and here he was, already dreaming about how he'd like to do more than kissing with Brooke.

"Daddy!"

The door to his bedroom slammed open and he flipped onto his stomach.

"Brooke's making pancakes. She says get up. It's time to build a snow fort with me, daddy."

In spite of himself, Lucas smiled. The idea of making a snow fort with his daughter—hell, with Brooke Davis—was too enticing to resist. He took in his daughter's pyjamas. "You'd better get dressed then."

"You, too." Charli scampered from the room, her feet thumping down the hallway.

"And she wants to be a ballerina," he muttered as he hopped out of bed and headed into his ensuite to turn on the shower. Lucas wondered how the hell she managed to be so graceful in ballet class because she never showed any grace around the house.

* * *

Ten minutes later, he hesitated outside the kitchen door. The scent of coffee and pancakes, the sizzle of bacon made his mouth water. He could hear Charli chattering to Brooke about what kind of fort they were going to make and it brought back many fond memories he had. Not of the fort but memories he remembered when he used to overhear Charli spending quality time with her mother as they used to talk among themselves about the forthcoming day and the activities they'd be doing.

He took a deep breath and walked in.

His gaze went to Brooke's. He waited for the narrowing of the eyes, the tightening of the lips, the cold shoulder. Instead, she just showed a plain smile and something in his stomach jittered. He couldn't help but smile back.

Brooke poured a cup of coffee and set it on the table then picked up her own and sipped it. She contemplated Lucas over the rim.

"This looks great," he managed. "Thanks."

"Anytime." Brooke sat at the table and the three of them ate breakfast. There was no awkwardness. If Lucas didn't know any better, he'd think he had imagined the entire thing.

Charli finished and jumped up from her chair. "I'm going to get my boots."

"Plate in the sink," Lucas said.

"Kay!" Seconds later, thumps and thuds sounded from the hall.

"About last night," Lucas began.

"Forget it."

Lucas wasn't sure he could. So much had already happened. "But—"

"Let's just have a nice day in the snow without worrying about anything else."

Charli appeared in the doorway. "C'mon! It's going to melt already."

Brooke laughed. "OK, we're coming."

Quickly they cleaned the kitchen. Lucas loaded the dish washer; Brooke wiped the table, counter and stove. They worked together easily and well as if they had been doing it for years.

Brooke kept a winter coat and gloves in the car she had hired. "You never know when you might need them," she said when Lucas lifted a brow.

It made him incredibly nervous. What if he were driving somewhere with Charli and the car broke down? What if the temperature went below zero and they had no way of keeping warm? He had never had these ghoulish thoughts until he had a child and was raising her alone. They were the kind of thoughts that he usually didn't have to think about because the worrying used to be left to Peyton to handle. She did it all and the key word being was _used_ _to_. She used to do it. Now he had them constantly. Apart from Nathan and Haley, he was the only person between Charli and disaster.

They tumbled into the chilly morning air. The sun ricocheted off the carpet of snow and sent sharp shards of light into his eyes.

The temperature was already climbing. By tomorrow the snow would be well on its way to water.

"What first, ladies? Snow man or a snow fort?"

A snow_ball_ hit him in the back of the head.

He titled his chin toward his chest and stared at a wide-eyed Charli.

"Oops, sorry daddy," she said with a giggle emerging as she said it before she ran off.

The snowball fight involved many shrieks and giggles. Brooke proved that she could still hit that extra decibel, particularly when Lucas closed in with a handful of snow.

She was also sneaky and she could throw a snowball as well as Lucas could. Within half an hour, Brooke was declared the winner.

By then, they opted to build a snowman instead of a snow fort since most of the snow had been tossed through the air and landing on the street anyway.

"Are you cold?" Lucas asked, taking in Charli's red nose.

She shook her head then bit her lip as she tried to roll the base of the snowman evenly as Brooke had shown her.

Lucas watched Charli and Brooke. The two of them chattered and laughed. They consulted on the best way to lift the body of the snowman onto the base then argued about how big the head should be. Their voices rose and fell, their giggles blended. People walking by on the sidewalk waved, greeting them with a fond smile. Lucas looked at the town, the house and his daughter.

The only thing missing was a wife.

* * *

Charli had wanted to see snow. Now that she had, she loved it, although she could understand where a whole winter of white might get boring.

But today the piles and piles had been nothing but fun. By the time they went inside, they'd had a snowball fight and they had built a snow family—a dad, a mom and a kid.

Charli had wanted a snow dog too but Brooke had put her foot down about that.

"I'm not that talented," she had said before she kissed Charli on the tip of her ice cold nose and then said, "Who wants hot chocolate?"

After Charli had taken a warm bath, she sipped her hot chocolate while Lucas made a fire in the fire place.

At first they'd laugh together then they got kind of quiet and would look at each other for a long time without talking and then look away and both would talk at once. It was all very strange to Charli and she had only even seen it happen when she crept down from bed at night and found her mom and dad doing the exact same thing.

The three of them spent the rest of the day playing games and watching movies. Outside, the snow melted off the roof with a steady drip-drip. When the sun went down, their snow family was leaning over so far that by morning they would topple over.

Charli fell asleep with her head on Brooke's leg halfway through one of the movies they were watching.

"Bed for you," Lucas said as he lifted Charli into his arms and took her upstairs.

She always loved being carried to bed and sometimes she would pretend to be asleep just so Lucas would have to hold her.

They reached her room and he bent down to place her in bed as Charli clung to his neck.

"Hey." He sat on her bed. "I thought you were out for the count."

"I woke up." She pressed her cheek to his.

"You upset that I have to leave tomorrow?" His arms tightened and he pulled Charli into his lap. "I'll be back at the end of the week."

She shook her head. "I'll be OK, just like before when mommy was here with me."

"Of course you will and you can call me anytime you want. Okay?"

Charli nodded her head in agreement and then hesitated. There was something she wanted to ask but she wasn't sure how she should go about it.

"Daddy?" she began, and he tilted his head, waiting. "I like Brooke."

"Me too," he said.

"Can we keep her?"

* * *

The days Lucas spent away brought Charli and Brooke closer together. Brooke had suspected it would but she hadn't been prepared for just how much she would come to love this little girl and the life that wasn't really hers.

Ever since she and Lucas had kissed, she had been pretending it hadn't happened. She wasn't sure what else to do. Kissing her employer—what had she been thinking?

She hadn't been. It was as simple as that. She had only been feeling—for the first time in years.

Lucas left early Sunday afternoon and because of her confusion, Brooke wasn't sorry to see him go. She threw herself into the job she had to do and pushed the feelings, memories aside even deeper.

Sunday afternoon, she went grocery shopping for the week; Sunday night, she helped Charli plan her outfit for the next day. More ribbons, a pink t-shirt, jeans and her new sandals. The snow was gone. High temperatures were up for Monday.

Despite Luke's fears that the other girls would corrupt his daughter, she seemed to be the one doing the corrupting.

At ballet, several of the girls wore multicoloured ribbons as bracelets. At the river court, two of the ballerinas showed up to play basketball.

Charli's circle of friends grew. The night before Lucas was scheduled to return from his trip, she was invited to a slumber party at Danielle's house.

Brooke dropped her off; choking up when Charli hugged her then kissed her on the cheek before shouting "See ya!" and running for the house.

Brooke made a detour past the park. She had most of the picnic planned. This year, there'd be a pig roast instead of a chicken grill. Still, she needed to come up with something…

"Special," Brooke whispered, staring through the window at the spring green park. She had nothing and time was running short.

Brooke returned to the house and tried to watch television then she tried to read a book but she was restless and it only got her thinking about everything she had been through.

Her mind was right. Brooke doubted it would ever be time she started dating again. She just couldn't open herself to the disappointment, the inevitable pain. Besides, lately, thoughts of dating, of men, of sex all led to one thing.

_Lucas._

Brooke rubbed her forehead.

The house was clean and there was no child to watch. Television sucked, her book was boring and she had no sketches she needed to get done for a deadline. She might as well go to bed.

Brooke wandered through the house, turning off the few remaining lights. She stood in the living room for several minutes, letting the quiet wash over her. Just as she was about to head upstairs, a thump sounded on the back porch. It was long past the time for visitors.

"Probably a cat," she murmured to herself as she inched closer towards the kitchen.

A shadow drifted beyond the window—tall, hulking man shaped—and Brooke began to back toward the portable phone she had set on the coffee table.

Before she could get there to dial 911, the doorknob turned and Brooke held her breath.

She was certain she had locked the door.

Frantically, she glanced around for a place to hide when her gaze landed on Charli's kid size basketball hoop. Sure, it wasn't the best of ways to protect herself, given that it was plastic but it would have to do. And just maybe it would work well enough to be able to defend herself. She snatched it up just as the click of the latch was followed by the muted footsteps on the kitchen tiles.

Her gaze went to the front door. There was no time to run or hide. There was only time to—

Brooke wrapped both hands around the stand of the hoop and waited.

* * *

Lucas had missed Charli. He'd missed his house, his office and if he were honest, he had missed Brooke too.

So he had hopped on an earlier plane out of New York. Of course, the flight was late leaving New York and even later landing at New Brunswick Airport. By the time he had retrieved his bag and car then driven to Tree Hill, all the lights in his house were off. Well, at least he would see Charli first thing in the morning.

The trip had been a good one. He had managed to deal with the necessary details he needed to work through so that he could take the next step to conclude writing his book. Not only was his editor impressed with what he had come up with so far but he was too. Now he just had to work out an appropriate ending to his story.

Lucas paused to dig out his house key then opened the kitchen door. The place was eerily silent.

He stepped inside and crossed the room, planning to go upstairs to check on his girls. The thought made him pause. When had he begun to think of Brooke as his?

Had it been when he had kissed her? Or maybe when he'd dreamed of doing more?

He heard a muffled screech, like a barefoot on the hardwood floor. He stepped from the kitchen into the hall, saw movement, felt a whoosh of air and ducked.

The basketball stand smacked into the wall behind him.

"Lucas!" Brooke's voice was horrified. "I thought—I'm sorry."

The tremor in her voice made him panic. "Where's Charli?" he demanded. After everything that had already happened to him and Charli, he made sure that she was his first priority. He hated to think of his pride and joy and being in some kind of danger. So he acted on impulse at the first sound of trouble.

"She's—"

Terrified, he snatched the stand from her limp hands and tossed it onto the floor, then he grabbed Brooke's wrist and yanked her against him. "What happened?" He tightened his grip of her. "What's wrong?"

All sorts of horror ran through his mind in hideousness. Were there murderers? Had she been kidnapped? It wasn't the first time that one of his family members had been kidnapped. He had already lived through an attempted kidnapping when Jamie was abducted by his psycho former nanny who seemingly had a thing for trying to take over the role of Haley's duty as a wife and mother. Since then, he vowed never to have the same mistake happen again—to him.

He didn't know what he would do or how he would cope if someone tried to take Charli away from him. Lucas hated to think what had happened to make this cool, calm fashion designer flip out so suddenly?

"N-nothing," she stammered without making sense.

"Where's Charli?" he asked again.

"She's at a slumber party," Brooke replied when she caught her breath.

Lucas searched her face. The house was dark. The only light that of the full moon shining in through the front windows. Still, he could see her expression fairly well and she seemed to be telling the truth.

"You're alone?"

She nodded. "I got spooked. The back door was locked and then—" She stopped briefly. "What are you doing here, Lucas? You're not meant to be back until tomorrow."

"I—" He took a deep breath, released her and leaned against the wall, trying to calm his racing heart. She had scared the shit out of him.

"Lucas?" Brooke moved forward.

"I'm okay." He lifted a hand to ward her off. Instead, she took his hand in hers, and held on firmly.

Reaching out, she touched his cheek. He found himself unable to breathe again.

Brooke felt it too, that of the strange connection between them both. The certain and yet bizarre knowledge born in the solitude and the darkness of the night, that they had been destined to meet, to love Charli and perhaps, to love each other. And it was the indemnity that they were meant to kiss—right now, right here, like this.

* * *

Brooke had to kiss Lucas. She had to touch him to make certain he was real. She had to press her mouth to his and make everything alright.

They had scared each other badly. Foolishly true, but foolishness didn't make her legs tremble any less or her heart pump any slower. The only thing that could was him.

She still held his hand, their fingers remained linked together. He still leaned against the wall as if he needed its sturdiness at his back just to remain on his feet. Brooke moved in, trapping him there—he didn't seem to mind—his eyes fluttering closed as her body skimmed the surface of his.

The taste of him was familiar; his scent was one she already knew. His free hand found the curve of her waist, pulling her against him.

Her arm looped around his neck. Her head titled just so he opened to her, his tongue sliding along the fullness of her bottom lip before he tugged at it with his teeth.

He disentangled their hands and she moaned a protest into his mouth, one that turned into a moan of pleasure when he grasped her hips and yanked her more tightly against him. She leaned into his body, pressing him into the wall and increasing the pressure until they both gasped.

Lucas pulled his lips away, stilling her with a gentle hand. "Whoa," he muttered, leaning his forehead into hers.

Brooke bit down on her bottom lip and nodded her head. She couldn't agree more with Lucas. Whoa was definitely a good word to use to sum up all that had just happened between them.

Her gaze met his, so close his eyes looked black in the shadows of the night. "Are we going to start?" she whispered.

"Yes."

"It's been a while for me."

"Me, too."

Together they climbed the stairs and he drew her into his room. She was both nervous and excited. She wanted him and then again, she didn't. What if—?

She cut that thought off before it could form inside her head and then she wouldn't be able to rid it of her head. If she kept thinking about the future, that would lead to thoughts of the past—a definite mood killer.

Before her mind could run away with her resolve, she began to unbutton her blouse.

"Let me," Lucas murmured, nudging her fingers aside.

Slowly her shirt opened. He watched her emerge, inch by inch, his face reflecting a fascination that called to her own. When he lowered his head and his lips followed the path of his fingers, goose bumps rippled across her skin and made her shudder with delicious abandon.

He popped the catch on her jeans, holding her gaze as lowered the zipper then slipped his hand inside and stroked her just once through the satiny slip of her panties. She arched into him and he kissed her, hard, mouth open, tongue searching for hers.

Clothes were strewed across the room after that. They fell onto the bed in a tangle of arms and legs, touching, exploring, tasting.

Fascinated with the sleek expanse of his skin over the rippling muscles in his chest and abdomen, she memorized the feel of his body with her fingertips and the curve of his hip with her tongue.

When he rolled away, rustling in his bedside table then muttering something, she didn't know what he was searching for until the rasp of the packet made her flinch.

He came back murmuring her name, nuzzling her breasts and she welcomed him into her with a gasp of surprise and joy. She needed this; she needed him and he was there.

Slow and deep, they rocked together. When the climax came over them, their lips met and they held each other until every last sensation fell away.

Face against her neck, body still buried in hers, he whispered, "I never thought I'd feel like this again."

Brooke wasn't certain what to say. Did he mean he never thought he'd have such great sex again? Or was it something more like he had had with his wife?

The connection she had felt with him since the first time they had kissed had only deepened tonight. She could love this man; she probably already did. In his arms, she could easily imagine creating a perfect family of three but what did he feel?

Gathering Brooke against him, Lucas tucked her head beneath his chin. "The way you are with Charli. She's so happy and confident and sure again like the way she was before she lost her mother. And it's because of you."

"I didn't do that much."

"But, you did. I'm good at the basics—feed, clothe, play. We were a family then we lost Peyton—" His shoulder moved beneath her cheek in a shrug. "I didn't know what to do for her anymore."

"You love her. She knows that."

"She needs a mother." Brooke heart stuttered at those words.

Brooke couldn't move; she couldn't speak. It was all so overwhelming, and one she wasn't sure she was ready to hear.

Luckily Lucas's trip, the lateness of the hour and the sex all combined made him fall toward slumber. And as soon as he was asleep, Brooke fled.


	6. Chapter Six

**A/N:** I was going to combine Chapter Six and Seven into one but then decided to split it up to drag the ending out. It may be short but I want it to be suspensful. Anyway, I've included the summary of my next story in this update because I need your help but more will be explained below. I hope you enjoy this chapter!!

**An Unexpected Family**

**Chapter Six**

The sound of the front door opening and closing woke Lucas. Something was missing and at first he wasn't sure what. He was home, in his own bed, and then he remembered.

"Brooke?" he called out.

Her clothes weren't on the floor. She wasn't in the bathroom. When he heard footsteps on the stairs, he stepped into the hall and then had to duck back into his room and shut the door as he realised he needed to put clothes on.

"Charli, what are you doing here?"

She didn't answer the question. Instead, she asked one of her own from the other side of the closed door. "Where's Brooke? She was supposed to pick me up but she called and asked Emma's mom to drop me off." Charli's voice faded as she went toward the guest room. "Is she sick?"

The creak of the door was followed by a gasp. Lucas shoved his legs into his jeans and ran. "Is she okay?" he asked.

All of Brooke's things were gone. The bed was made. Not a single speck of her remained.

Charli turned toward Lucas, placing her hands on her hips and tapped her foot impatiently.

"What did you do?" she asked her father in a child-like stern voice, meaning business.

* * *

Brooke left Charli a note on the dresser, explaining that she had been called away and she'd get in touch about the picnic as soon as she could.

She went home, unplugged the phone and crawled into bed like she never wanted to get out.

She had vacation days coming and she took them, leaving a message for Millicent. But she should have known her friend wouldn't be satisfied with that.

Two days later, Rachel showed up on her doorstep. Brooke figured that Millicent had filled her in on the happenings of Brooke's whereabouts and so both knew she was playing a different tune. She rang the bell until Brooke thought her head might explode. So she opened the door, even though she hadn't taken a shower or brushed her teeth in…Brooke couldn't remember.

"What is wrong with you?" Rachel demanded before Brooke even shut the door. "You look like hell."

"Which matches how I feel." Brooke went into the kitchen, put her head into the refrigerator, decided she didn't want to eat and walked back to the living area.

"You're sick?" Rachel put her hand to Brooke's forehead.

Brooke slapped it away. "In the head."

Rachel wrinkled her nose. "I'm going to put this as lightly as possible but you kinda smell, Brooke."

"Whatever." Brooke collapsed on to the sofa and put her arm over her face.

She heard Rachel go into the kitchen and run some water in the sink then she returned. Brooke figured her friend was either going to drink the water herself or try to get Brooke to. Instead, she poured it on Brooke's head.

"Hey!" Brooke sat up sputtering and choking. "My couch."

Rachel furrowed her eyebrows. "It's leather." She handed Brooke a dish towel. "Now, are you ready to talk to me about what happened at the Scott's?"

Brooke paused in the act as if trying to avoid the conversation she dreading to have. She blotted her liquid off her couch. "Who said anything happened at the Scott's?"

"You're in Tree Hill then you're back here. You suddenly need a vacation when you're _Brooke Davis_. You don't _do_ vacations—"Rachel lifted a brow "—though all you seem to be doing is perfecting your couch potato skills—nice work, by the way. The kid and the dad have been calling non-stop. The dad even showed up at the office trying to find out where you lived."

"He did?" Brooke cursed the hope in her voice. There was no hope.

"He seemed pretty determined. He never showed up here?"

Brooke shook her head. She had an unlisted number; still he could have found her if he kept trying. She sighed. Even to her, the sound was pitiful. Maybe it was a good thing she severed her ties with Lucas. Nothing good would have come out of it anyway and she certainly wasn't going to risk having her heart break again.

"Spill it," Rachel stipulated.

And because this was Rachel, who was her best friend and whom she had known since her senior year of high school and had been through everything together like when Rachel was there to comfort her during her marriage breakdown or when Brooke had chosen to stay by her side during the blundering moments when Rachel had succumbed to drugs and needed help in dealing with her problem head on, Brooke did tell her.

When she was done, her friend sat on the coffee table and took Brooke's hands in hers. Brooke braced herself for a sorrowful agreement that this was for the best. She'd get over him. She'd find someone else. All those things were probably true but they didn't feel true. They felt like the biggest lie of all.

"You're a moron," Rachel said as nice as she could sound.

Brooke blinked for several seconds then she yanked her hands from Rachel's. "What?"

"Maybe the term _idiot_ would apply to you then." Rachel tilted her head. "Dumb-ass?"

"Why do I tell you anything?"

"Because we're friends and believe it or not, I am a pretty good listener." Brooke narrowed her eyes and Rachel smirked. "Yeah, it's definitely because I give great advice. Talk to the guy."

"No." The very thought made Brooke's hands shake.

"You're condemning him because of something someone else did. Not all guys are like Chris."

"He's been—" Brooke's voice broke as she again heard Luke's final words before he drifted off to sleep, _She needs a mother_.

"Whatever he said was without knowing your situation," Rachel continued. "You can't end everything until you tell him your reason for skipping out on a possibly something."

"Yes, I can."

Exasperated, Brooke began to pace. "Do you know what it's like to have the man you love completely break your heart?"

"You don't know that Lucas is going to treat you the same way."

"I don't know that he won't."

"You love him."

"Who said that I love him?"

"You did. You said, '_do you know what it's like to have the man you love break_…" Rachel made a circular motion with her finger. "Blah, blah, blah."

"I meant Chris."

"No, you didn't. Besides, if you didn't love him, you wouldn't be so devastated."

Brooke looked away. Rachel was right again.

"Love doesn't come around as often as people think, Brooke. You might never get another chance. So take one. Tell him how you feel."

"I can't," she said.

"Coward."

Brooke thought she liked that better than _moron_, but as Rachel got up and walked out of the house, slamming the door behind her, she murmured, "Then again, maybe not."

* * *

**A/N:** New story summary!

**Title:** Untitled

**Couple:** Brooke and Lucas

**Summary:** Some what AU, I think. There's no turning back once Brooke makes a colossal mistake that could cost her the best friend she's ever had. How can life possibly stay the same for her and Lucas after they spent one passionate night together? If only her fiance hadn't run off with another woman. But now she's pregnant and Brooke can't turn back the clock.

So, there ya go. I hope that sounds intriguing, although if you have any suggestions as to a suitable title that fits with the plot then let me know because I've spent too much time thinking up what to write instead of coming up with a title and now I can't think of one. So I'm open to your ideas. I'm sure you'll come up with something good. Christie xx


	7. Chapter Seven

**An Unexpected Family**

**Chapter Seven**

Hours blended into days blended into a week and beyond. Brooke returned to work. But she didn't sleep well; she didn't eat any better. She was twitchy whenever she went into the office, afraid Lucas would show up, afraid he wouldn't.

She missed Charli with a longing that settled as a physical pain just below her heart. She kept in contact with cards and e-mails but it wasn't the same. Charli was upset and hurt. Finally Brooke couldn't stand it anymore.

The next Saturday, she checked the schedule at Clothes over Bro's and when she made sure there were no prior commitments she needed to make plans for, she hailed a taxi and took off to the airport.

When she arrived there, the sight made her eyes sting. She missed it, too, and how could that be?

She never wanted to set foot in a place so small and so much like her home town again.

At the Scott's, she was relieved to see one car in the driveway and it wasn't Lucas's.

Charli answered the door, and then threw herself into Brooke's arms.

"You came back," she whispered.

_Uh-oh._

Brooke drew away, peering into Charli's face. "Just for a visit, not to stay."

Charli's lip trembled.

"Hey, I'll always be your friend. You can call me anytime."

"Why did you go? I love you. I want you to be my mommy."

Brooke's eyes burned. She wanted that, too.

"Daddy misses you. He sighs a lot. He won't say your name. He won't talk 'bout it. What did he do?"

Brooke had a sudden flash of what he had done, what they had done. What she really, really wanted to do again.

Abruptly, she stood, "Nothing, sweet pea. It wasn't him, it was me."

"He said it wasn't you, it was him. What 'sorta crap is that?"

Brooke choked on a startled burst of laughter. She didn't expect to hear a four year old say such expressive language. "Are you supposed to say _crap_?"

Charli shrugged and rolled her eyes then tugged Brooke into the house.

Brooke waved at Heidi who glanced out from the kitchen.

"She's okay," Charli whispered. "But she isn't you."

"Thanks."

Charli pulled her into the living room. "I wanna show 'ya something." She picked up a notebook from the table and handed it to Brooke.

Figuring the girl had started keeping a scrapbook of her drawings; Brooke opened the cover then frowned. The first page was filled with a list of words. Upon closer inspection she saw they were all the silly nicknames she'd used for Charli while she was here.

"One more." Charli took the notebook and painstakingly wrote _sweet pea_ on the last line. "I really liked it when you called me those things."

Brooke ran her hand over Charli's blonde locks. "I liked calling you them."

"But—" Charli bit her lip.

"But what, baby cakes?"

Charli wrote it down, and then handed Brooke her notebook again. "Look at the second page."

At the top had been written "What I wish Brooke would call me," then beneath were the words were: _my daughter_, _my child_, _mine_.

"Oh, kiddo," Brooke began.

"You could adopt me. Adopting would make me yours, right?"

"Right, but you—" Brooke stilled. She was speechless and lost all thought of what she wanted or was going to say. She was heart felt for this little girl for even considering adoption when she did have a mother and no, she wasn't here at this point or anymore but for the sake of Charli's memory of her mother, and she didn't want to feel like she was replacing her. By no means did she want to be a substitute to her. Sure, she never knew Peyton but she still didn't wish to mark her place in Charli's and Lucas's life and have their treasured memories of who Peyton was and what she meant to them just completely wash away all because Brooke was suddenly a part of their family. She just couldn't do that. She wasn't that type of person to do that.

Brooke's mouth moved but no words came out. She had to sit and so she did. Then she moved so she got up. "Where is he?" she asked.

"At some school training his team for a game—" Charli scrunched her face up, trying to remember. "I dunno. The name is in the kitchen."

Brooke turned on her heel and headed in that direction.

"Where's Lucas?" she demanded nicely to Heidi so she didn't come off as demanding, who handed her the contact sheet.

According to the sheet, he was at a neighbouring town. She glanced at the time on her phone. She'd just have time to make it.

* * *

Applause lifted the ceiling of the gym. There had to be almost two hundred people there but today, well, lately pretty much every day, he enjoyed nothing. He missed Brooke, and knowing that he'd probably never see her again, or if he did, it would be some accidental meeting where they'd either pretend they didn't know each other and move on, or try and make nice, then end up so uncomfortable they'd have been better off pretending and only depressed him more.

He had tried to find her. He wanted to talk to her to at least discover what he had done wrong and why she had run, but that was before he had had a revelation.

His talk of a home and a family had obviously spooked her. He had been wrong about the woman he had fallen in love with. She was a businesswoman who had wanted something from him, and once she had gotten it, she left.

In the first painful days after she had left, he wondered if she was one of those women who only wanted sex. He found that hard to believe but he was also finding it hard to come up with any other options that would argue his first suggestion.

Lucas backed away from the side of the court. He had done his job but now he wanted to go and do the job more worthy than coach—being a father. He just wanted to go home and see Charli

As he said goodbye to Nathan and Skillz, he looked up and saw Brooke standing at the edge of the gym, just beside the entrance doors. He wasn't sure what to do or what to say, and then he saw the expression she had engulfed on her face, the same one he remembered she had when they had been tangled up together. The same one that made him think she loved him too.

He took his steps towards the exit and then stopped. Both his heart and his daughter's had been left broken hearted once before and he vowed he'd do whatever it took to make sure he didn't allow Charli to be left broken hearted and hurt like she had been the day she learned her mother was gone forever. He wanted to shield her from all the pain and destruction he didn't want her to have to go through at such a young age. It was his duty to after all. Wasn't it his right to protect his daughter in a way she couldn't or didn't know how to? For the sake of Charli, he wasn't going to take that chance again.

He crossed the short distance between them slowly. She rose as he approached. They stood a few feet apart silent and unsure.

"What are you doing here?" he blurted out at the same time she said, "Luke, I'm sorry."

"For what?"

"I should have told you."

"That you didn't love me? That you only wanted one thing and you'd be gone?"

"Huh? What?" she asked, confused by what he meant.

"You took off after I told you Charli needs a mother. What was I supposed to think?"

"I don't know." She looked away. She wanted to tell him everything about her past and what had happened. She owed him that much when he had opened his life to let her in. "There's something I have to explain, if you'd just hear me out."

Lucas motioned for her to take a seat at the bleachers and he joined her.

The story of her life, her marriage and her jackass of a husband made Lucas's hands curl into fists. When she was through, she stared at her lap.

"Brooke," he said and reached for her.

Her head went up and hope lit her eyes. She curled her fingers around his and held on.

"I know we haven't known each other for long but I feel like I've known you forever and I don't want to lose you. After Peyton died, I never thought I'd feel the same way that I had with her until now—and it's with you, Brooke. Now that I've found you, I just can't forget you. I love you and not just for myself but for Charli too. You're great with her. You know what she wants. She needs you and I need you." He took a deep breath. "Marry me?"

Joy spread over her face and he kissed her, unaware of the small group of his friends and family that was forming around them. She was the one he had been searching for. He was the one she had been destined to find and who knew that all it would take was a bizarre mix-up involving a little girl and an advertisement in a magazine. A little girl she had come to treasure and be fond of.

Suddenly Brooke pulled away. "Oh!" She stood and paced a few steps to the left, then to the right and then back to stand in front of him. "I've got it," she exclaimed. "The perfect event to make the Mother's Day picnic special."

Lucas raised an eyebrow. "I've asked you to marry me and all you can think about is the Mother's Day picnic?"

She lifted his hand to her mouth and kissed his knuckles. "You'll like this thought."

When she did that, he pretty much had only one thought but he managed to control himself. "Okay, what's the perfect thing to make this year's picnic special?"

"A wedding."


	8. Epilogue

**A/N:** Short epilogue, I know but I thought it was best to finish the story somehow so here it is. Thank you to everyone who either reviewed or set this story on alert or their favourites list. I hope you've enjoyed reading it as much as I had writing it but I do want to end it here because I do have another story in mind which should be up relatively soon but before I do post my new story, I have written a L/P one shot that came to me a few days ago when I found the new promo for season 6, which btw is looking soo good. Is anyone else as excited as I am about the new season? September really can't come fast enough!! So my one shot of L/P (I'm one of those rare people who can't stick to one specific couple besides Naley so I ship both Leyton and Brucas) will be up sometime tomorrow because I can't be bothered to put it up now. In the mean time, that's about it from me for now. I hope you enjoy the last installment in this story.

**An Unexpected Family**

**Epilogue**

Everyone agreed that the Tree Hill Mother's Day picnic that year was the best ever.

The day dawned clear and sunny with the sky a bright blue and the park smelled of flowers, fresh-cut grass and barbequed pork.

Brooke had worked non-stop but with the help of Millicent, Rachel and Haley who was fast becoming a very dear friend to her, she was able to pull off a wedding to rival any that would require years to plan. And after the disastrous turn of events of her first wedding, she had decided that she merely wanted to keep this wedding simple and low-key with a key of elegance.

At eleven o'clock in the morning on Mother's Day, Brooke walked down a sidewalk covered in rose petals, wearing a tea length dress of ivory lace, made courtesy by her.

Rachel was her maid of honour while Charli or Charlotte which she now favoured she be called her by proper name because it was more 'girly', acted as flower girl and a gorgeous one at that and paired up with Jamie who took part in being the ring bearer.

Charli wore a crown of white roses with multicoloured ribbons streaming to her shoulders.

She had given up her apartment and moved her things into the house yesterday. She was going to run her company from the Tree Hill satellite. Her days of travelling were gone, unless it was utterly necessary. She was home and it felt good.

In the gazebo, she became Brooke Scott, wife of Lucas and mother of Charlotte.

They were a family of three but not necessarily one who were planning on having their family stay that size.

Dreams really did come true.

The End!!

**A/N: **There you go. I hope the ending was alright. Let me know your thoughts and leave me some love for the last chapter. Again, thank you for taking the time to read this story and letting me know in reviews and etc. I hope you only enjoy my next story which should be up within a week because I've re worked the initial storyline and first chapter. I wasn't completely satisfied with what I previously had.


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